No, select LCD Reduced and enter the Hz at the bottom. The monitor really doesn't get that much darker at 96hz, especially if you are still running at full brightness (not 12 clicks up from min). If you are seeing scan lines at 110/120hz it's working.

I personally wouldn't push the monitor past 96hz.

I see, i'll try to get a monoprice cable and see how well it goes.
Does Reduce DVI frequency help with overclocking?

As I said somewhere before I have had bad experiences with internet shopping so I was very worried for getting screwed over in some way...

0 dead pixels, minimal bleeding (can only see in dark room with black screen and even then you don't notice it if you don't look for it) and the resolution is amazing!

I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!

Can upload some pics later if you guys want to see something specific about the X-star since the majority of all coverage here is for the Qnix!

Edit: Just overclocked it to 96 hz with no problems as well! So satisfied!!! How can I verify that it is actually showing 96 hz though? I can feel that it's smoother but maybe that's just placebo lol

Edit 2: the overclock definitely worked! tried panning the camera in LoL and the difference is actually bigger than I expected it to be! Just going to calibrate the screen now and then I'm set for breaking it in in a more hardcore fashion...

Would you guys say that 120 hz is a large improvement as well? Not sure if I want to go for it since it has been causing issues for some. If the difference is similar to the step between 60 and 96 I am definitely up for at least trying it out though.

Alright, feels like I need to show this screen some love and make a proper post about it... So, here we go. The above was my initial post, as you can see it was not very sophisticated and did not do this beauty justice!

Packaging:

Mine came very well packaged. It was in its original box with extra foam around it to make sure it arrived safely, which it certainly did. Very few marks or scratches even on the outer foam! I ordered it last weekend (Friday after working time in Korea), and it arrived this Thursday. Nobody was home to answer the door though so UPS had to make their second attempt today, which obviously was successful.

Once I opened the box the screen greeted me... I put it aside though and investigated the other contents of the box. A manual in all Korean, a wall adapter (aka " wonplug adopter"), dvi cable, power cable+brick, and sound cable. I wont be needing the adapter but it was a nice touch to the package, and maybe it will come in handy during future travels (especially since it came with an exclusive carrying-poach!).

The stand was quite hard to attach since there was no comprehensible instructions, but eventually I managed to figure out how it was meant to be attached. I'm not sure if the method used is weird or I as a monitor layman just did not know any better...

Sadly there was a sticker on the top left of the screen that did not look very good at all, and once removed it did leave behind some glue... Hate when that happens! That is my single biggest complaint over all though so I am certainly happy with it!

I plugged it in and started my computer. It worked without me doing anything, from the BIOS and onward. Windows automatically set the screen resolution, so I did not need to worry about that.

Once into the operative system I booted up tha interwebz and ran tests to check for dead pixels and bleeding. No dead pixels and minimal bleeding! Did not read the post about how to photograph bleeding yet and don't really care much about it since it does not worry me, but as you can see in this picture there is some bleeding in the bottom of the screen. Fixable, maybe, but it does not bother me to that degree. The image also makes it look a little worse than it actually is!

Calibration time! Since I am one of those lucky kids with a cool calibration device (Spyder 4 Pro), I decided to run a full calibration. The results were good, though the changes minimal (made the screen a little warmer).

Overclocking time! I was a little tense over this part (did not read much about the process beforehand, only that it had caused some problems for people), but once reading all the instructions I realized that it was pretty darn simple. Said and done, the screen now ran at 96 hz a few minutes later. Booted up League of Legends to see if there was any noticeable difference, and there was definitely! Panning the camera is a lot smoother on 96 hz than it is on the good ole 60. Not sure if I should make an attempt at 120 hz or not. Would you fellas recommend it?

After verifying that the overclocking did work, I ran a calibration again since the screen had changed from the overclocking. The brightness had dropped by 9 cd/m^2, did not check anything more besides that. To be honest I'm not very much into all this calibration stuff, even though I have had my calibration device for soon one year...

Either way, this is where I'm at at the moment. Extremely satisfied with my purchase! Felt it was a bit of a gamble to order an X-star since not many had done it (I think I was the tenth person in this thread), in addition to playing on the dead pixel, bleeding and overclocking lotto! Now I am to enjoy this bad boy throughout the entire weekend.

Full setup:

Thank you for posting! I too ordered an x star for $286 and am expecting the same results as you as these panels should be identical just like the shimian/catleap monitors. Also, the sellers said they were the same thing.Edited by sammysamsam - 5/3/13 at 10:53am

For those who have opened up the monitor, is it possible to remove the silver frame to apply electrical tape without taking out the whole panel?

Anyone?

Also I am confused about brightness click "instructions". As there is no OSD to tell you how do I know what is the "bottom"?

By adding the electrical tape, you are talking about adding them as 'shims' to stop the panel play (wntrsnowg mod)? In that case, the panel has to be unscrewed from the metal frames on each side. This is done by unscrewing the 2 screws per side which connect the screen to the frame. Then, the screen can be moved around while still keeping the screen connections in tact (no need to unplug anything). There will be enough movement to do one side of the monitor casing at a time.

About the brightness. I replied to your pm, but let me post here as well. Bottom and top brightness are achieved by holding their respective button and waiting for both of two things. For the brightness values to not change visually, and also for the blue light on the monitor to stop blinking.

Has it been verified that trying a different DVI cable can improve your OC chances? Has anyone on OCN had that experience?

I've seen people reporting that their OC varried per video card, and per cable. How much, I don't know. I've been following your case, and it seems that the prospect of ever hitting 100 Hz seems unlikely, unfortunately

Well I am using the stock cable at present but I also have a seemingly high quality and brand new one that shipped with a $2300 professional NEC 30" at work. So I suppose I will see if it makes any kind of difference.

Has it been verified that trying a different DVI cable can improve your OC chances? Has anyone on OCN had that experience?

The cable seems to make a little bit of a difference. I think my monitor cannot handle 120hz since no matter what cable I use I do get scan lines.

Here is a test I did with each cable, running at 120hz LCD Reduced and Reduce DVI Frequency checked in CCC.

Random cable I had (not the QNIX cable): No scan lines on the desktop, a minuscule amount in games although it's hard to see. The best one I've tried but the problem is it's too short

Monoprice 24AWG cable 1: Scan lines on the desktop like crazy, the display was actually shaking (even though my monitor was still). Forget about in games. This one's a dud for 120hz.

Monoprice 24AWG cable 2: No scan lines on desktop, very few in games, although more than the random cable in my first test.

Who would've though that a random generic cable I had could beat two Monoprice cables with the thickness of snakes. I've also come to the conclusion that's it's my monitor as well, so a cable won't make a huge difference. I'll probably keep it at 110hz.

I've seen people reporting that their OC varried per video card, and per cable. How much, I don't know. I've been following your case, and it seems that the prospect of ever hitting 100 Hz seems unlikely, unfortunately

Ya, you're probably right. I guess I'll keep it stock until I upgrade my rig a couple years down the line and then give it another go. My vid card has a hard enough time running games at 60hz atm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by apav

The cable seems to make a little bit of a difference. I think my monitor cannot handle 120hz since no matter what cable I use I do get scan lines.

Here is a test I did with each cable, running at 120hz LCD Reduced and Reduce DVI Frequency checked in CCC.

Random cable I had (not the QNIX cable): No scan lines on the desktop, a minuscule amount in games although it's hard to see. The best one I've tried but the problem is it's too short

Monoprice 24AWG cable 1: Scan lines on the desktop like crazy, the display was actually shaking (even though my monitor was still). Forget about in games. This one's a dud for 120hz.

Monoprice 24AWG cable 2: No scan lines on desktop, very few in games, although more than the random cable in my first test.

Who would've though that a random generic cable I had could beat two Monoprice cables with the thickness of snakes. I've also come to the conclusion that's it's my monitor as well, so a cable won't make a huge difference. I'll probably keep it at 110hz.